Cousins imprisoned for stripping "pleasant" elderly lady of her assests

A CARER from Wembley stripped an elderly woman of her assets and dignity and has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Magdalena Swiercz, 66, was sentenced to four years imprisonment for multiple counts of theft involving stealing thousands of pounds from an elderly lady.

She was found guilty with her cousin Stefan Kryzewski, 60, from Crystal Palace at Harrow Crown Court in May and the pair were sentenced on July 24.

Mr Kryzewski, a welfare lawyer, received five years in prison.

Ms Swiercz was employed as a live-in carer for an 80-year-old woman needing care due to memory loss and dementia.

The defendants isolated the victim from friends and neighbours, who she had known for decades and took control of her life.

In 2006 police were called to the address and found her in a distressed, unkempt and untidy state.

Police took her to a residential home and she was found to be suffering from severe dementia.

Magdalena Swiercz was entrusted to care for the victim via her links with the Catholic Church and was paid a generous wage.

Mr Kryzewski joined her in the theft and through his knowledge as a welfare lawyer they stripped the victim of her assets.

After a protracted investigation Police found that Swiercz and Kryzewski had stolen over £150,000, sole ownership of the victim's house and obtained a will in favour of Ms Swiercz leaving everything the victim owned to her.

The victim was suffering from dementia and did not have the ability to protect her interests.

The victim died aged 91 in February 2012.

Detective Sergeant Harvey, who was based at the Community Safety Unit said: "The defendants were both well educated people, who knew better, but were governed by sheer greed. Magdalena Swiercz was put in a position of trust via connection to the church, to help an 80 year old lady, in her last years, who was described as pleasant and formerly independent. Instead she plotted with her cousin to steal all of the victim’s savings and her home, whilst continuing to live off the victim’s pension until 2009, when she had been in a care home for years. They treated her with callous disregard and neglect. This neglect led to suspicions about their care of the victim and the discovery of their theft."